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Inyo County
Overview of Findings
Access to dental health services for low-income residents of Inyo County is a challenge. The county is rural and families must travel long distances to receive dental care. Although there are ample dental providers in the city of Bishop, few of them accept Denti-Cal or Healthy Families insurance. Low-income patients are often referred to Sierra Park, a rural dental clinic in Mono County.
Dental health services are provided to children through the Inyo County Superintendent of Schools. Dental education is provided in the classroom where children are taught about healthy food choices, reading nutrition labels, and brushing and flossing techniques. A dentist conducts dental screenings, and second and fifth graders receive sealants. The program is reimbursed for services provided to children who have Medi-Cal coverage. The program also assists families with enrollment in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.
Funding for the program was identified as the main challenge to providing services to the children of Inyo. Private grants have been the primary source of funding, and at the time of the interview the program was in the last year of a California Endowment grant. The only other source of funding comes from minimal Medi-Cal reimbursements.
Data
The following links lead to visual representations of the data collected in the surveys for this county. Maps in the 'slideshow' have accompanying text that helps explain what is visually taking place as well as comparing the results of this county's maps to the results for the rest of the region. The PDF maps have no explanation text and are only the visual image.